Editorial | Bills could help set the innocent free

In Kentucky and other states, officials sometimes discover they've got the wrong guy. Or they don't discover that at all, meaning an innocent person may spend years in prison for a crime someone else committed.

Two bills pending in the General Assembly would help such individuals by allowing those convicted of violent crimes access to DNA testing to try to challenge their convictions. Currently Kentucky and Alabama are the only two states in the nation that allow no one except inmates on death row access to DNA testing to challenge convictions.

The DNA measures are among several bills meant to improve or update the state criminal justice system and lawmakers need to get moving on them as the 2013 Kentucky General Assembly reaches the midpoint of the 30-day session.

Other worthy bills include a measure to standardize the way people may get some felony arrests and convictions for minor offenses expunged, or removed, from their records. Another would strengthen the state's law against human trafficking and clarify that child victims, often trafficked for sex, would be eligible for treatment rather than punishment as offenders.

The DNA bills, Senate Bill 23, sponsored by Sen. John Schickel, a Union Republican, and House Bill 41, sponsored by Rep. Johnny Bell, a Glasgow Democrat, would bring Kentucky in line with most other states by allowing people convicted of violent offenses access to DNA testing to challenge the convictions.

The Innocence Project, a national legal rights organization, supports the bills and notes that to date, DNA testing has helped exonerate 302 wrongfully convicted people. In about half those cases, it reports that the real perpetrator was identified.

Unfortunately, the Senate bill was changed at the behest of state prosecutors to exclude DNA access for anyone who pleaded guilty or entered an Alford plea to an offense.

This is a very bad idea. The Innocence Project reports that of the 302 people exonerated nationwide for DNA testing, about 30 had entered such pleas, possibly through pressure from police or prosecutors or fear of a stiffer sentence - like death.

If the Commonwealth Attorneys Association in Kentucky doesn't believe that happens here, we respectfully remind them of the 1987 murder of a South Louisville grocer in which two innocent men pleaded guilty under enormous pressure and a third was facing trial and a potential death sentence when authorities identified the real killers.

Of the three cleared of the murder, one was a juvenile, who threatened with prosecution as an adult and a possible death sentence, agreed to plead guilty and implicate two other men charged in the case. One of the two entered an Alford plea, meaning he maintained his innocence but acknowledged the evidence was likely to lead to his conviction. And the third was days away from trial when prosecutors with the Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney's office discovered they had the wrong guys.

So, yeah - it can happen here and it has. Lawmakers should approve the House version of the bill.

Also pending is Senate Bill 79, sponsored by Sen. Julie Denton, a Louisville Republican, to allow people who have been charged with felonies - but not convicted - have the charges expunged from their records after two years. Current law forbids expungement if a charge has been dismissed "without prejudice," meaning prosecutors could pursue the case later.

The Courier-Journal's Jason Riley reported Sunday that this leaves some individuals in limbo for years. Even if the charges are never pursued, they still remain on a person's record, making it difficult to find jobs.

SB 79 also would clarify apparent confusion in the law about when people can get minor offenses, such as traffic violations, expunged. That has caused a stir in Jefferson County and needs fixing.

And finally House Bill 3, sponsored by Rep. Sannie Overly, a Paris Democrat, would toughen penalties for human trafficking and ensure services for child victims.

The midpoint of any session is where lawmakers start to squirm and claim there's not time to pass certain legislation. Lawmakers should make time for these bills.

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Editorial | Bills could help set the innocent free

Don't think for a minute only guilty people go to prison. In Kentucky and other states, officials sometimes discover they?ve got the wrong guy. Or they don?t discover that at all, meaning an innocent